Colonization may have started with blankets and guns but it is still an on-going effort by modern day colonizers such as Ford to strip Indigenous peoples of our identity and thereby strip us of our traditional territories.
Modern day colonialism has become a psychological attack against our people and the war is waging everyday inside of our Onkwehon:weh minds. We need to believe that our peoples’ old way of life was at least equal to and probably better than this new way of existing if we want to heal.
We probably had a hundred better cities here in North America than any that could be found in Europe in the year 1491 – but we will never hear about that because colonialism is actually veiled white supremacy and those guys prefer a different narrative concerning Indigenous people – a more vilifying one.
Yes it is integral to Indigenous society to restore the languages that were lost. Furthermore, we need to understand that the European ways are not inherently superior to our ancient Indigenous ways just because they are European or just because our bodies lost the biological war to smallpox.
Please understand that if we had any immunity to the dirty diseases that were brought to North America by the First Immigrants and their livestock Indigenous Nations would fill this great continent by now with over 600 vastly different countries speaking well over 1000 languages with huge populations rivaling India or China.
Read it again and let it get through to you. This is not sour grapes or emotional bidding but an actualization of the truth.
The official white supremacist version (still) says that the Almighty God of Heaven smote nine out of ten of us down for our wicked Indigenous ways and that we deserved to die just like the Canaanites in grand-pappy’s Holy Bible. This fallacy is called Manifest Destiny and it still infects Imperial court rooms today.
The non-religious version is a baseless accusation that we “lost the war.” Which war the 1812 one? We actually won that for you guys, you’re welcome.
So the battle begins each day for us as we demand dignity and respect not only for ourselves but for our ancestors who believed in Peace and existed in it.
A rational look at Indigenous history shows that women, children, elderly and disabled people were treated equally to men as it pertains to respect, autonomy and human dignity. This is a fancy way of saying that unequalled peace and harmony existed within our hearts and minds right down to the micro levels of Indigenous society. Decolonization is moving forward by getting back to that.
That is the main reason why so many of the First Immigrants abandoned their horrible colonies and were gladly welcomed into Indigenous life as adoptees. So painful was the memory of this unpatriotic behaviour that they had to fabricate the derogatory term “Go Native™” to deride the rank and file colonists who dared to break off the shackles of pilgrim life.
Not much has changed except now we are derogatory to ourselves and to those who are brave enough to break free.
